last night at about -- between 5:00 and 7:00. apparently, tronn had called one of her relatives claiming she was taken by force from the vallejo salon where she works. that's the very man police now say and believe is responsible for the killing spree. police spent all day at the scene of a vallejo home where they found a large amount of explosive chemicals and the body of two women they believe are 67-year-old mrs. allen and a 60-year-old woman, smart, who have been missing since last wednesday. >> the bodies were severely decomposed so it's hard to tell what took place. >> the police are questioning him about the women but it's a former house mate that investigators appear to be zeroing in on, a man they believe is also responsible for at least two more killings. >> in my 12 years' experience

i've never seen anything like this before. it's just a matter of different -- you start off with -- you're looking at one angle and the next thank you know all these differ bodies are turning up. >> reporter: the investigators say the suspect in the weekend killing of a hercules man took them on a high-speed chase through the bay area last night ending inside a richmond market where the chp officers shot and killed him. >> if officers were placed in a situation where they were in fear for their lives because he was armed with a meat clever. >> he had been driving a car and inside, the badly beaten body of another woman. and investigators say there's another missing hercules man that may be alleged victim number five. >> it's just unknown as to what would cause this person to go into some type of killing spree and that's really what we're all going to look to find out hopefully in the next couple of days. >> now, you're looking at pictures of the white cadillac

escalade that police say belonged to mr. allen, one of the victims found in the vallejo home. her car was found this morning in hercules. we're told police are at that scene at this very moment, looking for the remaining missing man that's 35-year-old frederick solis of hercules. this story continues to develop. police and investigators are inside the vallejo police department right now. police from different agencies trying to put all of the pieces together. but, again, it continues to develop by the moment. reporting live in vallejo, jodi hernandez, bay area news. police say they believe one man is responsible for all those deaths. a 38-year-old east bay man efram valdemoro. we have tracy with the story. >> reporter: well, right now we're live at the office park what jodi just mentioned.

they found the white cadillac escalade they believe belonged to mr. allen. the police believe this was the same car that efram was spotted in and then may have ditched here tracing his steps has been difficult. understanding what pushed him over the edge seems impossible at this point. >> when i'm around him i kind of feel like danger around him, kind of. i can just sense something but then, i'm just ready to maybe run from him. >> patrick nicholas said he and efram would shoot baskets at the hoops outside nicholas's house on a regular basis. nicholas says the 38-year-old didn't share many details about his life but nicholas said one thing was obvious. he did not get along with mr. allen, the 63-year-old woman who lived in this home where he rented a room. the same woman the police found dead inside the home, along with

her friend, mr. smart. several neighbors say the two argued a lot. one says allen came running over to her house one day begging to use her cell phone but valdamoro followed her there. >> i got scared when he warned me not to lend the cell phone because, no, don't give her the cell phone because -- something like that. he even did shake it like that. >> when i come out and see what's going on, he would say -- oh, never mind her. she's crazy and he would bring her back inside. and the next day there would be like cops. >> nicholas said the suspect told him he was once in the military and wanted to re-enlist 'he applied to be a security guard at a sacramento-based company in 2005 and tried to get certified as a nursing assistant in 2006. vallejo documents show arrest for disorderly conduct, being under the influence of narcotics and public intoxication in 2001 and again in may of this year. several neighbors say he was a

nice, quiet guy. >> i didn't think that he would do something like this. >> now, neighbors say they were confused about valdamoro's living situation because he seemed to be from cruising up and down for fun to actually living in his corvette. they say they believe allen kicked him out of that house and even changed the locks to keep him from getting back in, but, yet, he was still hanging out in the neighborhood, generally, sitting in his car and parked object side of the road. live in hercules, tracy grant, bay area news. >> thank you. for the latest developments on the story go to our website, nbcbayarea.com. look under the "don't mis"section. firefighters are battling a wildfire in napa county this evening. the wildfire broke out early this afternoon in the american canyon area, west of interstate 80, about 10 to 12 acres in size but as you can see, some impressive flames tied to it

right now. firefighters say structures on the hillside are no longer threatened and there are no reports of any injuries at this point. crews are putting down fire lines trying to contain this fire right now. the flames broke out during a spike in temperatures here in the bay area. another spare the air day has been called for tomorrow. meteorologist jeff ranieri is here with more on heatwave number two. that's right. always updating the graphics back here in the weather center. the firefighters are fighting in conditions in the 90s and humidity down in the teens, single digits in some cases. let's look at some hot spots. santa rosa with 97. livermore, 94. san jose, 93. san francisco airport was a 92. it is hot out there. not as hot as it was this time last week with all of our record-setting heat. right now even san francisco is still holding on to the mid 80s with plenty of mid 90s throughout thee peninsula.

hot high pressure will remain in place as we head to tomorrow. another "spare the air" alert in effect through tomorrow. tonight we're looking at some mild weather with mid-to-upper 70s. and that will be continuing into the morning hours. details on your cooling weekend forecast coming up. thanks, jeff, speculation in sacramento that california's budget impasse could last until the november election. last day was the last day of the legislative session but lawmakers remained, capitol today talking about how to close california's $19 billion budget gap but there were no more budget votes. governor schwarzenegger will not call a special session and said even big-five meetings aren't that helpful. so he's going ahead with plans for a six-day trade mission to asia next week. >> just because there's inaction in the legislature when it comes to passing a budget doesn't mean there needs to be inaction in

the governor's office. so i'll continue my work as i go around the state to promote the economy and job creation. i'll do that around the world because i think it is a very important way to create extra revenues. >> republican candidate for governor, meg whitman partially blames the governor for the budget delay but he declined to respond. a silicon valley, a new way to watch television. our tech reporter, scott budman, had a front-row seat to the apple show. what's new? >> reporter: it was a show. with new technology at the forefront. apple which has had a virtual lock on portable music players for years is facing stiff competition when it comes to your television. ♪ yes, you can get your new ipod in yellow. and several other colors, too. half of today's apple news is

about music. new ipods that will let you play and download songs and even go into the i-tunes and special network. they call it ping, the tiny ipod shuffle starts at $49. the ipod touch starts at $299 and it has become even more like the iphone. >> and, of course, you can do face time. and not just with other ipod touches but now, also between iphones and ipod touches. >> but it's apple tv that's changed the most. the box itself a quarter the size of its predecessor and costs $99, now letting you rent movies for $4.99 and tv shows for 99 cents, part of a strategy to dominate not just your musical desires but your entire living room at the same time. >> it was really more about not a browser-based approach. don't just stick a browser on the tv and say, now we have streaming services. it's a great and elegant one and

taking advantage of the local work you can do to tie into those services and make it's easy for consumers to consume those on tv. >> you now have new places put all your new content. it wasn't just apple fans cheering today's news. apple shareholders benefitting from new ways for their company to make money and apple stock moving steadily higher as today's rollout went on. investors snatched up stocks across if board feeling better about the economy. the stock index is up close to 3% each. as for when apple's products will be available, apple tv in four weeks. the ipods ship in about a week and the i-tunes updates are ready now. it will be interesting to watch apple tv sales with amazon and google and it's becoming very crowded. a lot of competition out there for apple. back to you. >> you got to use a score coast guard nowadays. still ahead, five alarming new studies on how a lack of sleep can lead to increased risk

of health problems, even death. we'll tell you who is at greatest risk. and the gift of shopping on facebook. how you can go to the store and spend virtually. and they are going to school at home. but it's not home schooling. coming up, the growing trend in education and the bay area family that's giving it a try. and a developing story. nbc bay area had an exclusive conversation on tape with the gunman who took hostages at the discovery channel headquarters's today. and your chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. we're track ing ting the heat a temperatures remain in the 90s inland. look at this, another hot one setting up for tomorrow. by 11:00 a.m., lhe0sri hur cane ls on where hurricane earl is currently. all coming up. !% o

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we have developing news on the hostage standoff inside the discovery channel headquarters in mayor left-hand. an nbc news producer talked to the hostage-taker moments before he was killed. we've just obtained that exclusive interview. let's listen in. >> i have a gun and i have a bomb. i have several bombs strapped to my body, ready to go off. i have a device that if i drop it, if i drop it, it will -- [bleep] explode. >> police say -- >> how long have you been working on this particular bomb? >> three weeks, around three weeks or a month. >> three weeks? >> i did a lot of research. i had to experiment. >> and how many bombs, again, do you have? >> i have several. >> police say that bomb did explode after they shot the man you just heard on the audiotape. the throw hostages, two discovery channel employees and

the security guard escape add live. the man on the phone interview identified himself as james j lee. police say he has protested at the discovery channel before over its environmental programming and, in fact, he's been protesting for years. for its part nbc news said they called the company's general number and were transferred to lee. nbc news immediately notified police once the conversation began. and nbc "nightly news" will have more on the audio in just a moment at 5:30. there's much more audio from the interview. it lasted for about ten minutes. for the first time in two decades, the number of undocumented immigrants has dropped in the united states. the study from the pew hispanic center estimates there were many undocumented immigrants, a drop of 8% or about 1 million immigrants from a peak of 12 million undocumented immigrants in 2007. the struggling economy and

increased immigration enforcement are considered likely factors in the apparent drop. nearly a quarter of the undocumented immigrants live in california, about 2.5 million. have you ever been able to spend a day working from home? for those that can swing it it can be a freeing, relaxing experience. it's all thanks to modern internet technology. if it works for work, then why not school? nbc bay area's report on teachers, students and parents are saying -- yes! >> reporter: how can a student go to school at home, yet not be considered home-schooled? well, let's introduce you to ryan wang. that's just his deal. and what he'll tell you, it all makes sense when you realize his school is virtual. >> as long as you can get internet you can do our program. >> katrina is the head of the school for california virtual academies with 11,000 students,

it is already the country's largest virtual charter school and it's still growing. >> it's heading -- it's totally -- it will be successful 10 or 15 years from now. >> reporter: ryan was traditionally home-schooled like his younger brothers, austin and pierce are now. meaning mom, karen, was his primary teacher. that's changed now that he's in high school. >> if you already have the file from a different class you don't need to download it again. >> reporter: it's 11:00 and ryan is in history class, with 82 other students spread across the state. while the teacher lectures ryan and the others can type in questions, answers, problems. there's even time before and after class for students to chat online, of course. >> it does have more of a high school feel. like you have to be at this class at this time, without the walking. >> and like real-world high school, ryan has to adapt to

different teaching styles. >> it was a change. i know my mom. but the teachers, i don't know as well. >> if there's a transition period in which i'm letting go. >> reporter: still, karen said the virtual model gives them what they are looking forward right now, a challenging curriculum as well as a little more learning independence for rye kwan. but mom, still able to keep a close eye on the entire operation. one thing that's interesting, you would assume many of these people would be like this familiar left-hand and they would be former traditional home daub schoolers. only 10 to 15% of the students that go to this california virtual academy are former home schoolers. they say it's difficult to give it up to a teacher even if it is through the internet. >> i always wondered about the social aspect of being schooled at home or a remote education. >> parents say what they often do is they are structured in their out-of-home activities.

they sign the kids up, in this case, swimming, dance, music. these kids are not lacking for meeting other kids and doing things outside. >> okay. an interesting concept. thank you very much. well, shall we check our weather? >> we shall. >> we're back to that hot word. jeff? >> yes, it is certainly hot out there. we're also on hurricane watch. if you're traveling here in the next three days, of course, we're monitoring hurricane earl, a major storm. continuing here, parallel and winds at 135 miles per hour gusting to 160 and it looks like the first glancing blow, potential lawful will come around the carolinas. near the cape hatteras region as a category 3. right now the models keep it offshore but a little bit of deviation here to the left and we could be looking at some major damage. otherwise, back here at home in san francisco, we had clear

skies and a lot of hot temperatures from the coastline inland with 88 currently and that humidity fairly low. we're continuing to hold on to low to mid 90s in the east and the south bay. "spare the air" tonight and as we head to tomorrow. primarily, our biggest spots of concern for poor air quality are the east and south bay. hot inland and warm at the coast with 70s and 80s and this is a trend you might like if you want cooler weather. as we head to labor day weekend, temperatures will be going down. we have hot, high pressure here sitting offshore helping to bring us a lot of heating aloft. that's why the fog has no chance at all building as we head throughout tonight or for tomorrow, for that matter. we'll keep it with these above-average temperatures for thursday and by friday, that's when the cooling fog returns and we'll see the temperatures moderating and heading down. 6:00 a.m. tomorrow in the east bay, 66 and look at this. by 11:00 a.m., already 83 degrees. meanwhile, here tomorrow

morning, a look at a lot of low to mid 60s here and mild start back in the east bay with plenty of upper 60s. as for tomorrow, here's what it looks like. we've got mid 90s throughout morgan hill. gilroy, 93. 95 in live livermore and 93 in dublin. while we'll be hot we're not looking at widespread records tomorrow. just take note if you have respiraty problems and or allergies and young kids. we have that "spare the air" in effect for tomorrow. more on the weather on cable. here's a look at your seven-day forecast. you can see by sunday and monday, temperatures start to trend down with upper 70s to near 80s. up again and back down again. >> okay. in other words, the fog bank is just sitting there and wait something. >> eventually. >> thanks, jeff. still ahead at 5:00, the new twist to facebook you can find in the checkout line. and a study on whether it's more dangerous for women or men

to go without a full night's sleep. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] we know jerry brown was mayor of oakland, but what were the results? fact: brown promised to improve schools. but the drop out rate increased 50%, and the state had to take over the schools. fact: the city controller found employees paid for 22,000 hours... they never worked. fact: brown promised to cut crime. but murders doubled, making oakland the 4th most dangerous city in america. jerry brown. he just can't deliver the results california needs now.

in health news, men who describe themselves as insome knee yacks face a risk of death h death. new study from penn state shows men that slept less than six hours per night were four times more likely to die during a 14-year flul period. the risk was higher for men with diabetes or high blood pressure. women, confidence only ten years but no significant difference in mortality rates. teenagers who don't get enough sleep tend to eat more fatty feuds and snacks. a study shows when they get less than eight hours of sleep they are more at risk for obesity. even small changes in eating patterns lead to weight gain, especially in girls. experts say teenagers should get at least nine hours of sleep each night. >> nine hours, that sounds ac ht bkh wit be right back with

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facebook is blurring the lines between the real world and virtual world by selling gift cards. you can get them at target. you spend real money but the goods you buy with those cards are social. the applications and the company says more than 20 or rather, 200 million play free social games on facebook each and every month. that's a big profit. tonight on "nbc nightly news," actor michael douglas and the fight of his life. what's next for his treatment and what's his prognosis.

thanks for joining us. more local news headed your way at 6:00. we'll both see you then.